Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Insane Chinese Speed Block

The most simple and cost effective way to force drivers to slow down their pace is to add a speed bump on the road. An alternative solution is 3-dimensional speed bump images like the ones used in the city of Philadelphia –see here. But in the case of the local government in China’s ShanXi province, neither solution was good enough. Instead of using a speed bumps like the rest of the world, authorities decided to build a miniature version of the “Great Wall” in the form of a 30 meter (about 100 ft) long and 2.7 meter wide (approx 9 ft) ‘S’ shaped road barricaded with a 60 mm tall cement wall (around 2 ft).

According to reports from the Chinese media, the speed block has surpassed the local government’s expectations as not only did it slow down drivers, but it has actually created massive traffic jams on a daily basis… And if that isn’t enough of a problem, due to the fact that the road is so narrow and twisty, a large number of drivers have ended up scrapping their vehicles on the cement wall.